


A Current Much Stronger

by MissBee4343



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Ancients, Dystopia, F/F, F/M, Fae & Fairies, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Flashbacks, Gen, Heavy Angst, M/M, Magic, Memory Loss, Minor Allura/Lotor (Voltron), Minor Character Death, Mutual Pining, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-20 07:04:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17617751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissBee4343/pseuds/MissBee4343
Summary: The Ancients have been gone for centuries, and it their wake the world has fallen into disrepair and ruin. Lance is an unassuming human from the Ice Islands who stumbles upon an old weapon and is swept into a tale of reincarnation, magic, and redemption. Now it's up to Lance to awaken the sleeping Descendents and return balance to the world, all while recovering his own magic and memories as he pieces together what led to the worldwide disappearance of the fae.A fic based off of Taytei's Ancients AU





	A Current Much Stronger

_“What_ **_good to foresee_ ** _a demise unavoidable?"_

 

Beautiful, balanced, tranquil.

It had been beautiful once. The lands were still beautiful but it was a different type of beauty, it was the cruel type of beauty, the type of beauty that would cut. Standing on the shore of the long frozen bay Lance thinks about what it might have looked like before. The wind is tugging at the strings of his anorak coat, as he looks over over the sea of ice, and tries to imagine the islands and the clear water that his grandparents had told him and his siblings about.

Not that they’d ever seen it. 

It had been generations since the fae and the Ancients disappeared, and, any semblance of normality. The ruins around the coast spoke for themselves. Sometimes they get travellers from other regions. They look haunted, all gaunt cheeks and shadowed eyes. They never say much about where they’re from. Lance’s abuela always told him that they come to the Ice Regions because even if it’s bleak and people starve all the time, it’s better than those other places. _“You can only take so many clothes off...but you can always put more on,”_ she’d say as she tightened a scarf around his face. If the who people came seeking the Ice Islands thought they were better than whatever they were running from... then Lance wasn’t sure if he even wanted to know what happened to the rest of the world. 

He looks for a few moments longer and slides his goggles over his face as he turns away from the bay. The sun was spilling colors over the ice sea in front of him and the glasses always lessened the colors. 

Veronica always said it was just because he was cold that he liked to watch the sunset. Veronica was _also_ the reason he was out here in the first place. Scowling, Lance surveyed the snow in front of him. His mother always sent him out to follow her. And despite the fact that Veronica _knew_ that whenever she ran off with Nadia he’d be sent after her, she did it anyways. He scuffed a boot on the ground and continued following the path of erratic footprints. 

Some of them blurred together. Nadia must have pushed Veronica, “I hope she got snow down her coat,” he sighs and wilts somewhat as he trudges forward, “I hope she catches a cold and her snot freezes.”  He looks up and down the snowscape and finally leans against a nearby cliff wall,“Veronica, come back! I’m hungry!”

“Hi Hungry, I’m Rizavi!” called a voice from a nearby crevasse, “C’mon Lance, your sister found something _super_ awesome.” 

Lance groans,  “Don’t you think that joke gets old?” 

As he squeezes through the crack he’s greeted with Rizavi's beam, just  barely visible between her scarf and goggles. “Well,” she puts a glove to her chin, “You’re _always_ hungry and _I’m_ always Rizavi...so no, it doesn’t get old,” she said brightly, swinging around and beckoning him forward. 

“She doesn’t have to _look_ for awesome things, she’s already got _me_ ,” he comments as they edge forward into the tunnel. 

“Ancients, you’re so obnoxious.”

“Takes one to know one --”

“Guys, guys, _hush_ ,”  he can see Veronica crouch behind a rock, goggles hanging around her neck. The ice above them paints the whole cavern blue in the dying light, it’s bright, but not so bright that they’d be snowblinded. Rizavi and Lance both pull down their goggles, and Rizavi sends Lance a  conspiratorial wink before they both crouch next to his sister. 

“What is it,” He whispers and pushes against veronica to get a better vantage point, “I don’t see anything --”

“Hey, “Mr. Sharpshooter” aren’t you supposed to have like, the keenest eyesight ever --”

“ _Hush!_ ” Veronica jams a finger over each of their mouths but doesn’t turn from whatever it is she’s staring at. 

And then Lance sees it, but Rizavi beats him to the question. “What is it?” 

“I don’t know,” breathed Veronica.

“It’s...beautiful,” Now that he’s seen it, Lance can’t tear his eyes away.

 Its fur is supposed to be white, he’s sure of it, but under the roof of ice, it’s just as blue as everything else in the cavern. Where it isn’t blue it’s thick fur is spotted in the darkest black that Lance has ever seen, and its tail is wrapped around its paws as it sits, statuesque, eyes closed.

And then it’s eyes open and they are the bluest thing Lance has ever seen in his life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once, when he was a child he fell through the snow into a deep crevasse. He was too afraid to yell in case it caused any more ice to crack or snow to fall, down there for hours, staring up to the blue sky, through the blue ice, until he couldn’t tell the difference.

 

Blue, blue, blue, blue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I’m going to follow it.”

“Veronica --no!” 

Veronica rushes into the cavern. He feels dazed, like there’s a faint pressure at the back of his mind. _Remember, remember, remember…_

“Lance help!”

“Huh -- I,” he skitters to hit feet, slipping against the ice and he’s back. He’s back, and in a spectacular turn of events Rizavi is the one chasing after Veronica for once, and now both of them are calling his name, and he can’t run fast enough. The cavern is twisting and turning, the walls are so slick with ice he can see his reflection skittering around the corners, bumping against the sharp edges of rocks, sliding across the ground, fingers grasping and legs scrambling for a hold somewhere. 

“Lance!” 

“Veronica! Rizavi!”

And then, rounding a tight corner, he sees it.

“Wha--” All the breath is pushed out of his lungs as Veronica pushes him out of the way of an unfurling _thing_ . _Thing_ because he can’t think of any other words to describe what’s in front of him. It looked like a fleshy mass curling into itself, pulpy tentacles burst from its center, ice-covered and writhing.

And there, in one of it’s limbs --

“Rizavi!”

Veronica grabs something off the ground and hurls it at the creature. It bursts against its side splattering him and his sister with red shards.

Lance realizes what it was that she had just thrown -- a brittle frozen limb of the creature -- and consequently what the frozen red shards in and on his coat are. 

“Oh gross --”

“Lance, seriously?” Veronica tugs him away as another tentacle grasps at where he just stood. “Don’t just stand there! We need to help her!”

“We need to find something that isn’t frozen,” he lunges to the side of another tentacle, “Otherwise anything we use is just going to break.” 

Veronica launches another frozen body part at the creature, “Oh _wow_ , I didn’t think of that Lance!” She grimaces at the sounds of the creature as it shrinks. “What _isn’t_ frozen?” 

“I’m working on it!” He scours the edges of the cavern - there by the wall, a stalagmite...if he could just reach it and break it off. 

He’s sprinting forward when the ice beneath him gives way, and suddenly, all is quiet.

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s the thing: people in the Ice Islands? They don’t swim. There’s a few reasons for this, the first being that the ice is so thick that you not only don’t have to worry about falling through, but creating even the tiniest fishing hole requires a great deal of effort...and you can maybe fit a foot through that (Lance knows, he tried to push Veronica down one when they were toddlers).

 

Second? The water is cold. Immediately let out all your air in shock cold. Muscle-clenchingly cold.  Dead in less than fifteen minutes cold.

 

So no, the Ice Islanders? They don’t swim.

 

 

 

 

 

Lance isn’t sure if he’s died yet or not. He thinks that maybe time works differently when you’re dying, fast and slow all at once. If that’s true, then things must look different too.  As he drowned and froze to death simultaneously Lance hadn’t expected to see quite so _clearly_. Sinking deeper under the ice he can look up and see the jagged hole he fell through, Veronica’s face, blurred on the other side of the water as he eyes searched for him. 

He wants to tell her to pay attention to the creature, to grab Rizavi and run because if there was anything they were taught growing up it was that they could not fight against the cold. 

He opens his mouth to tell her so, maybe reassure her that he’s quite comfortable given that he’s dying,  and that he’ll miss her. Nothing comes out of his mouth but bubbles, they float to the surface, farther and farther away as he sinks deeper and deeper. 

And then, though it should be too dark to see anything, something glints in the corner of his eye and without thinking he moves towards it. Or perhaps moves isn’t the right word...he _glides_ towards because the sensation of moving through the water is something wholly different to anything Lance has ever experienced. It’s sliding through rows upon rows of silk curtains, it’s skating fast over a newly frozen creek, it’s something almost divine. And just like that, his hands wrap around the shining object.

Several things happen at once: 

First, the thing glows bright enough that he has to turn away and shield his eyes

Second, what had seemed like just a think cylinder no bigger than his forearms begins growing longer until it’s half of his height. 

Third, something - he’s not sure what - just _clicks_ and in a second he is barrelling towards the surface and bursting in cloud of frost and sparkling shower of water back into the cavern.

Veronica staggers back from him blinking, “Lance?”

Even the creature pauses for a moment before surging forward again. But this time, Lance is ready. 

He cuts down onto the tentacle holding Rizavi, who stumbles against against the wall, “Is that a _trident_?” 

“Well, well, well, look who’s finally decided to --” Another limb hits him at his knees and knocks him to the ground. He braces for impact, but turning over, he sees Veronica standing over him with the stalagmite he was eyeing earlier, pushing the creature back. 

“Can you _please_ focus Lance?” She grunts with effort and pushes the limb back.

“Come on, cut me some slack,” he darted forward and jabbed the trident into the base of the creature, “I just died!” 

“I’m just glad you’re back,” Their eyes meet, “because it means I can kill you again for doing that,”  they both nod and she kneels to the ground, “without having to go to the trouble of resurrecting you in the first place.” Her fingers interlock together, his boot meets her hands, and as he jumps she launches him up towards the looming monster.

Somewhere on the ground, Lance can hear Rizavi whooping in approval, he raises the trident in one arm, and with a grunt thrusts it forward into the dark, writhing middle of the creature.

There’s an explosion of light and he’s thrown against the wall by Rizavi. The back of his head is wet...that makes sense, because he was underwater. But it’s warm and that...doesn’t make sense.

  
  
  


 

 

 

 

 

 

He’s falling again. For a moment, Lance wonders if he really _did_  die when he fell into the water but no...everything had felt very real. He thinks then, that whatever deity had decided to save him, has perhaps changed its mind. Maybe the deity is a super hot woman, and she didn’t realize how hot he was in all that dark water and now that she’s seen him she wants him back? Lance supposes then that he’ll miss his family, but if it was for the well-being of a cosmic deity, it was not his place to intervene.

 

But no goddess appears.

 

Instead he feels as if he is hurtling through the sky, storm clouds rushing past him as he tries futilely to find something to grasp onto. It’s weird, he thinks, that right until the last second people still try to find some way to survive.  He’s not sure how much longer they have left on the planet, but he’s proud of how far they’ve gotten, with or without the ancients and fae that seemed to have either abandoned or forgotten them.

 

Then in front of him, he thinks it’s man first, floating in that sphere of rain, huge wing suspended mid flap, eyes closed, and arms outstretched as if he’s reaching for something.  Lance sees the man’s eyes open quickly, mouth in a surprised “o” just for a second before he’s falling again, faster than ever.

 

And then he realizes, he’s no longer being falling down, but rather, he’s being _pulled_ down, vines grasping at his legs and dragging his through thickly interwoven vines. He thinks he sees a girl calling out to him, she seems angry but there are tears at the corner of her eyes.

 

And then Lance knows he must be dead because he hits hard stone and he thinks it’s a small mercy that after all that time falling he can’t feel anything when it’s finally time to die for real. But there’s another person blinking at him, eyebrows furrowed...but then, he can’t be a person with his skin glowing like hot coals in a fire. _That isn’t allowed_ , Lance thinks to himself as the stranger moves forward. His lips are mouthing something, from the expression on his face it must be important.

 

“I’m sorry, I can’t hear you,” Lance says, “I’m dead and I don’t think hearing is a thing I can do anymore.”

 

But the man is gone already, the ground opens in front of Lance, something in its depths glowing red hot. He’s sliding forward when a hand suddenly grabs his own.

 

Lance looks up, fully expecting it to be another stranger who he couldn’t hear, but it’s not.

 

“Lance?” His voice is achingly familiar, brows knitted together as he strains to pull Lance up and out of the chasm. A piece of dark hair flops in front of his face and Lance feels compelled to sweep it away from those eyes and he reaches out to cup the other boys cheek.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Lance?”

“Lance!”

“Who are you to refer to him so casually?”

“Who am I? Who are _you_?”

“Who am _I_? Only the most trusted advisor to the Ocean Desce-”

“Trusted? You tried to kill us!”

Lance’s eyes flutter open to Rizavi slapping his cheeks. She has a horrible bedside manner.  She is kneeling by his side, her forehead wrinkled in concern, and beyond her is Veronica pushing back at two blurry figures.

“Guys, guys, shut up, he’s awake!”

“Oh yay, he didn’t die this time!” Chirps the taller of the two.

He blinks slowly, “This time?” he echoes trying to make sense of the two new figures. For one thing, they’re both incredibly attractive, and for a moment he’s thinking about how to seem suave from a spread eagle position on the ground. Maybe wink? But no, everything is still fuzzy and it comes out more like an eye twitch than a conspiratorial flirtation. It then occurs to him however that neither of the women are particularly human.  “Hey, you’re a mermaid!” He turned to Rizavi, “Those don’t exist anymore, right?”

“Of course you recognize _her_ ,”  the taller, multi-colored, figure crosses her arms and stares down at him, smirking in a way that seems intensely familiar.

“Uh -- have we met?” He raises a hand as if to shake their hands, but Veronica pushes his hand away.

“Yeah, you guys have met” she sends a sour look towards the two women, “When they were trying to _kill us_ a few moments ago.”

“That was against our own will! It was the corruption!” The mermaid hisses in reply.

 “Okay, so, I have no idea what’s going on right now… but in my book, that’s a pretty convenient excuse for evil-doers,” Rizavi finally pipes in as she helps Lance sit up straight.

The tall woman rolls her eyes, “Okay, so, we do _not_ have time for this.” She gestures towards the mermaid propped out of the water next to her, “That’s Plaxum, I’m Ezor and we’ve been trapped in a gross monster for a few centuries.” 

Veronica opens her mouth as if to speak, and Ezor immediately pressed a finger against her mouth. Veronica turns bright red, and Lance exchanges a traitorous look with Rizavi.

Ezor points to Lance, “We’ve been waiting for him a long-ass time, and now that he’s finally here he’s going to return balance to this region, wake everyone else up, and then everything’ll be back to normal, okay? Okay.” 

She turns and gestures towards Lance with her thumbs, “C’mon Lancey-Lance, shake it off and then let’s go home.”

Veronica grabs her arm and pulls her back as she goes to jump into the huge hole in the ice where the monster...or he supposes Ezor and Plaxum used to be. “Yeah, that’s not happening. First of all, ‘Lancey-Lance’ isn’t going anywhere until he gets medical attention.”

“And second of all, um…” Rizavi tries to tack something on, “No.” She drapes Lance’s arm over her shoulder as she stands the two of them up.

Ezor growls in frustration “Ugh, _come on_ Lance, they’re cute, I get it but Keith’s been waiting forever and he’s gonna be super pissed when I tell him you spend the last few centuries flirting with two --”

“Woah, woah woah,” Lance waves his hand before she can finish the sentence, “Hold up sister, That’s my sister and crib-mate you’re talking about --" 

“Wait...you don’t remember, do you?” Plaxum finally breaks her silence, staring up from the hole in the ice thoughtfully. 

Lance looks between Veronica, Rizavi, Ezor and Plaxum in turn, “Um...I mean I would never forget a face like yours--” 

She sends him a stern look.

“Okay, yeah, none of us have any idea what you’re talking about.”

Ezor lets out a long sigh and falls to the ground with a thud, ice cracking where her head met the ice. If it was not for the continued frustrated mutterings, he would have worried that she had fainted.

“This is going to be so much harder than you made it sound. Where’s Acxa when you need her?’ She flops over onto her stomach to face them, “I’d even take Slav at this point.” 

“Riiiiiight, Slav. Of course, Slav. _Love_ that guy...” Lance nods sagely, “Yeah, here’s the thing, you keep saying things annndddd…..I don’t understand anything.”

“Heh, like that’s anything new,” Rizavi mutters barely audibly.

“Look, Lance and...” Plaxum looks towards Veronica and Rizavi, “Friends. It’s very important that you trust us. The world is in terrible danger --”

“It’s been in terrible danger for the past 500 years! All because _someone_ decided to up and leave--”

“Woah, chill Veronica, let her finish,” Lance waves his hands towards his sister before she can get started on _that_ topic again.

Plaxum hesitates, “We didn’t leave willingly,” she adds quietly. “And Lance certainly didn’t leave.”

 “I mean, how could I leave when I knew when such a beautiful face had such depth unplumbed--”

 “Lance!” Veronica  looks about ready to  push him back into the water herself. Ezor sighs heavily from her corner of the ice.

  “You don’t understand Lance is an _Ocean descendent_ . Just like me, just like Ezor.” She talks faster as if sensing she would be interrupted again if she paused. “And he’s  not just an Ocean Descended the Ocean _Ancient_ and he just looks like that because he gave away all his power --and now he can have it back! And we can fix this!”

 Plaxum pulls up the trident from the water and offers it to Lance, “Please Lance, we have been waiting -- hoping-- for you for so long.”

 And without hesitation, Lance reaches forward and he takes it.

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from a Cassandra Clare quote; “Fate is never fair. You are caught in a current much stronger than you are; struggle against it and you'll drown not just yourself but those who try to save you. Swim with it. and you'll survive”
> 
> This is an idea that I just couldn't get out of my head for the past few weeks. I swear I haven't forgotten about my other two projects please forgive me!
> 
> Credit to @taytei (http://taytei.tumblr.com/) on tumblr for her beautiful artwork which inspired this. Please go check it out!
> 
> Quote at the beginning is courtesy of a a giant mushroom in Hollow Knight!


End file.
